Fort Greene

Joan Ramón Escoda & Carmen Sanahuja

Escoda-Sanahuja was established in 1997 by Joan Ramón Escoda and Carmen Sanahuja in the Conca de Barberà in central Catalonia. They’ve worked organically from the start and switched to biodynamics in 2003. Since 2007 the wines have been made without any added sulphur dioxide.

Joan Ramón and Carmen farm 10 hectares, but not all of it is vineyards. They also have olive and almond trees, vegetables, and livestock. In the vineyards, vegetation is left between the rows in order to encourage a soil rich in humus and microbes to help maintain soil moisture in this dry climate. The climate here is Mediterranean but distinctly cooler than neighboring Penedes and Priorat to the north and Terra Alta to the south.

They’re members of the Mediterranean Biodynamic Work Group, as well as PVN (a Spanish Association of Natural Winemakers).

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Wine Quotes

Natural wine is the result of a philosophical choice to find a pure expression of terroir. It's made from organically farmed grapes, without herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, or other synthetic products. The harvest is manual and, in the vinification, the winemaker strives to keep the characteristics of a living wine.

The myth that all red wines should be served at 'room temperature' has ruined more great wines than any other single mistreatment. It dates from the nineteenth century, when, for venerable wines, it was a valid dictum, as central heating did not exist and room temperature was closer to 60 degrees than 80 degrees.

— Richard Olney

A frank representation of a piece of land in a particular year…all the components necessary to start and complete fermentation and give balance and complexity must come from the vineyard itself.

— Isabelle Legeron

Natural wine is not new; it is what wine always was, and yet, somehow today it has become a rarity. It is a tiny drop in a big ocean, but, oh my, what a drop.

— Isabelle Legeron

If you keep an open mind and take each wine on its own terms, there is a world of magic to discover.

— Kermit Lynch

I think one can do without SO2, in certain measure, if one has hygiene. No, but if you don't treat with sulphurous anhydride, you must be very careful. There you are. Because: SO2 is a poison. It poisons both the yeast (the yeast resists but it does better when not poisoned by sulphur anhydride) and the bacteria.

— Jules Chauvet

The vin vivant [living wine] movement started in the 1990s. At first we were considered hippies. Younger people got really interested. They are very digestable, easy to drink, and you can drink more and won’t have a hangover.